For Doctor Who fans a difficult decision is coming up, but while it’s not theirs to make, the decision as to whether they’ll accept the change that is about to come will be up to them since Jodie Whittaker will be stepping down, supposedly, during season 13 of the highly acclaimed show. While this is more rumor than fact at the moment there are still plenty of people speculating on who will be taking on her role, and there are definitely a few frontrunners for the position that many people either do or don’t want to see. Since coming on as the most current Doctor, Whittaker has had to endure quite a bit of scrutiny and even derision from the fans early on since many people didn’t want a female Doctor and were more than ready to voice their concerns aloud. Since that point though, Whittaker has managed to quiet many of the doubters and has done whatever she could to further the goals of the show and simply be the best Doctor that she could. As of now though the rumors are building and there are those that some fans would love to see take the role.
Names such as Kris Marshall, Michaela Coel, Richard Ayoade, Jo Martin, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, John Boyega, and Olly Alexander are currently top on the list of the celebrities that people would like to see for various reasons since each actor is skilled in some way that would allow them to take on the role of the Doctor and possibly nail it. There are a few among them that are less than certain that such a thing would or could happen either because of prior engagements that might not work with the show or simply because they don’t believe they might be the right fight. Coel has actually told people not to bet on her for the part, though looking at her history it does feel that she might work just fine, while Jo Martin actually has a history of being revealed to be a former Doctor, so she might work out just fine. Some people are obviously going to think that keeping a woman as the Doctor would be a great idea and that a woman of color would be even better, which would leave Coel and Martin in the driver’s seat at the moment.
But it’s not wise to discount the rest of those that are in the running since Ayoade and Alexander, who is actually one of the top picks at this time, are thought to be good fits due to their personalities and the ability they might have to bring a quirky side to the next Doctor. Kris actually feels like a good fit but it’s still up in the air as to whether the next Doctor should be male or female. While this shouldn’t matter really it’s enough to say that Waller-Bridge could possibly be another worthy candidate, but she hasn’t been able to confirm or even go deeper into this discussion, meaning that there’s not a lot of information coming from that direction. The only one that I haven’t mentioned at this point and for a reason is John Boyega, and the simple reason is that while he’s not a terrible actor, his reliability has taken a pretty big hit lately, and without giving a reason why he left one of his most recent projects it’s bound to make some fans wonder why anyone would continue to rely on him.
That might sound a bit harsh, but the fact of the matter, as we know it at this time anyway, is that Boyega did leave a project without any word apparently and no explanation of why he had to pack up and go. It doesn’t take much, perhaps citing a family emergency or saying that there was a personal crisis he needed to tend to, but someone that’s thought to be a professional would have at least given some inclination of why he had to leave. The obvious reason for doubting his ability to take on this role would be if he left one project like this, what’s to say he wouldn’t do it again? That might sound like poor reasoning, but such an act turns an actor into a liability that many people might not want to take on. Apart from that, Boyega is also becoming widely known for being a little problematic when it’s apparent that things aren’t going the way he wants them to, as such happened in Star Wars when his character didn’t receive the same attention he thought was warranted.
At this point, the issue of who will play the next Doctor is still up in the air, as is the idea that Whittaker will even be stepping aside in season 13. But one thing that we do know is that there are plenty of people willing to step into the role.
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